Wife of teacher who ran away with student reveals note he left her

The wife of a teacher accused of kidnapping his teenage student revealed the note her husband left behind when he disappeared.

Tad Cummins' estranged wife, Jill Cummins, shared the contents of the note for the first time with INSIDE EDITION.

"I'm getting away to clear my head of all this crap. I love you. Please don't call the police. They'll just think I'm guilty and I'm not. I'm so sorry," the note read. He signed it with a heart.

Jill Cummins told INSIDE EDITION that she thought he had a hard time dealing with the stress of his relationship with the 15-year-old girl being exposed.

She reported him missing one day after she found the note -- and that's how she figured out the truth.

"They said, 'We have something to tell you. Elizabeth is also reported as missing,' and that was the very moment I realized that's when I knew something was going on between the two of them," she said.

Tad Cummins, 50, vanished with Elizabeth Thomas on March 13. Five weeks later a tipster found them in a remote cabin in California and called authorities.

The 50-year-old has been charged with kidnapping, but his wife said she was told that Elizabeth went with him willingly and could have left at any time.

"I told him I understand, but she is a child and you are a 50-year-old man and that's not right. She didn't have a choice whether or not to go with you. He says she did have a choice," Jill told INSIDE EDITION.

He was suspended in January over allegations of kissing Elizabeth at school. At the time, his wife stood by him, thinking he had been accused of something he didn't do.

Jill and Tad Cummins got married in 1985 when they were just teenagers. They tied the knot the day Jill turned 18.